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Monday, October 15, 2012

Farmhouse Chevron Table

Dad's Notes:This table was a request from a daughter who loves anything chevron. It is basically the farmhouse table (see previous post) with a much fancier top. There is no question that your friends and neighbors will be wanting one.

Materials Needed: Cost: $200

2-4X6 8ft. long

2-4X4 8ft. long douglas fir

8-2X4 8ft. long

12-1x4 8ft. #2 kiln dried whitewood boards

1-4X8 sheet of Oriented Strand Board (OSB)

2- tubes of PL Premium

Box of 3in. deck screws

Box of 1 1/2 inch screws

1 gallon of Minwax Polyurethane for floors semi-gloss

We start out with the same legs and base structure as detailed in the Farm House Table click here to get those instructions.

The difference for the chevron table is in the construction of the top. We use a little different 2 x 4 framing then the Farm House Table and we cover the framing with oriented strand board (OSB) instead of plank.

Cut the osb board to fit the dimensions of your framing. To make certain your 2 x 4 framing is square before you secure the sheet of osb to the frame, line up the "uncut" factory edges of the osb board (they are already square) to be your guide as you glue and screw the osb board to the 2 x 4 frame.

Now that you have the top constructed it is time to add the chevron board array. My daughter wanted a "rough" look that would simulate salvaged wood from wooden pallets. So on my version I ripped 2 x 4's to simulate this type of wood. My wife, the artist genius painted them white and then added a stain wash to complete the faux salvage wood look. Well back to reality, you can do the same or as I have detailed in the material list you can buy 1 x 4's and simply use them for the chevron design. Well there are a few cuts to say the least so I set up a jig on my saw to provide a "stop" that allows every board to be cut to exactly the same length. The magic length for my chevron boards on my table was 6 and 3/8 inches. You may want to experiment by cutting enough to complete one row, just to ensure you've got it right before you cut them all (yes, that is the voice of experience you are hearing). You can lay them out, check them out, and if all is well you can glue them down with the PL premium. Just a helpful hint, take a board and just tack it in place down one side of the table to serve as a guide when you start your glueing process.

When you get it all done it should look something like this. Remember my daughter wanted a rough finish so these look a little rugged. If you are going for a more smooth look wait one day for the adhesive to really set then use an orbital sander to perfect your look.

Don't worry if your chevron go over one side a little bit. You can cut them off with a circular saw. You are ready for the 2 x 4's that create the skirt that surrounds the entire table. If you will cut these on a 45 degree angle it gives it a more professional appearance.

Whatever you finished the chevron boards with do the same for these skirt boards. Since this was a rugged table I just screwed the finished skirt boards to the table base leaving the screws exposed. You can counter drill the holes use wooden plugs if you prefer a more finished look.

Assemble the table like in the picture above and screw the legs to the frame of the table top using those 3 inch deck screws. An alternative method is to just set the table on top of the legs you've created and go right to the finish instructions below. This way you can carry the legs in separately from the top (much lighter choice, yes, that is the voice of experience speaking once again) and secure the legs once you've got the table in its final resting place.

I must confess I used an acrylic bar top product on my daughters table to take it up one notch. If you don't want to spend the money on an expensive acrylic top the next best thing is Minwax Polyurethane for floors. It comes in gloss, semi-gloss, and satin finishes. Chose what will serve your taste best and start apply a few coats. It should fill in all of the voids between the boards and leave a smooth even finish to the top. You can gently use some 220 sand paper in between coats to help produce a fantastic smooth and durable surface. This is the stuff they use on basketball courts. It is a super fast drying product so mulitple coats can be done in less time.

There is tutorial on creating a bench that matches this table on one of my previous posts. You can check it out here. The bench that matches is towards the end of that post. Yes, the other bench is for a different daughter.

So my husband has really never done any kind of wood work. I think maybe once he helped is dad build a basic book case when he was younger. Do you think this is something he could do? We desperately need a new table for our growing family and we have talked about making one. I have completely fallen in love with this table.

Thanks for sharing this and all your other projects. I am building this for my wife and have come to a point that am not sure how to finish it from here.So I have a question for you that will hopefully help out and I can get it completed. With the top frame of 2x4's (4" being the height), the OSB on top of that & then the 1" board on top of that (bring total height to approx 5-5 1/4") how did you wrap the outside with 2x4 being flush to the top of the boards and not have the 1 1/2" of the 2x4 frame show that is lower than the outside wrap? I thought about it when first started but now that i have it all pieced together it hit me again. Thank you so much for sharing and helping with this.

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